Display System and Apparatus with Directional Emission

Abstract

Disclosed are embodiments of display systems that provide directional emission from light emitting elements. The light emissive display systems disclosed provide methods and apparatus for controlling the direction and intensity of light emitted by the display. Display modules have a plurality of light emitting elements arranged in a predetermined pattern and providing a highly uniform visual effect. Arrangement of physical and optical components with respect to the position and orientation of light emitting devices collectively steers the light from the display with a controlled directionality and intensity.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A light emitting display system comprising:
 a) a plurality of light emitting elements arranged in a predetermined pattern collectively defining a viewing plane;   b) each of said plurality of light emitting elements comprising:
 i) at least one light emitting device having a first far field emission pattern of optical power, the light emitting device producing an emitted light;
 A) said first far field emission pattern having a first direction along which a first peak intensity of optical power of said first far field emission pattern propagates; 
 
 ii) an optical element optically coupled to said light emitting device, at least a portion of said emitted light passing through said optical element, said optical element operative to transform said first far field emission pattern into a second far field emission pattern of optical power, said second far field emission pattern having a second direction along which a second peak intensity of optical power of said second far field emission pattern propagates; 
 iii) further characterized in that said first direction and said second direction are not parallel; 
 iv) further characterized in that said second peak intensity is higher than said first peak intensity; 
   c) said plurality of light emitting elements collectively creating, by superposition of each of said second far field emission patterns, a third far field emission pattern of optical power emitted by the light emitting display system, said third far field emission pattern having a third direction along which a third peak intensity of optical power of said third far field emission pattern propagates;   d) the viewing plane further defining a surface normal vector that is perpendicular to said viewing plane;   e) the system further characterized in that said third direction and said surface normal vector are not parallel.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  further characterized in that:
 a) a horizon vector is defined originating at the geometric centroid of the viewing plane and directed toward the horizon; 
 b) said third direction is in a direction that is below the horizon. 
 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1  further characterized in that:
 a) the third far field emission pattern has a left-right mirror symmetry with respect to a vertical plane defined perpendicular to the viewing plane and passing through the geometric centroid of the viewing plane. 
 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1  further characterized in that:
 a) the third far field emission pattern does not have up-down mirror symmetry with respect to a horizontal plane defined perpendicular to the viewing plane and passing through the geometric centroid of the viewing plane. 
 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1  further characterized in that the optical element is a lens. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1  further characterized in that the optical element is a plurality of lenses. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1  further characterized in that the optical element is microlens array. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1  further characterized in that the optical element is a TIR lens. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1  further characterized in that:
 a) each of said plurality of light emitting elements comprises a plurality of light emitting devices disposed within a cavity formed in a substrate, the cavity being defined by a bottom surface and a plurality of wall surfaces; each of the light emitting devices emitting light; 
 b) the first far field emission pattern comprises a superposition of the far field emission pattern from each of the plurality of light emitting devices after the emitted light passes through an aperture formed by the plurality of wall surfaces; 
 c) the optical element further characterized in that it is disposed to receive at least a portion of light emitted from each of said plurality of light emitting devices. 
 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9  in which the optical element is disposed in contact with said aperture. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 9  in which the optical element is disposed within said cavity. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 9  in which the optical element is disposed within said aperture.